


Shitnubs and Strider-kun

by Ellesra



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Ashen Romance | Auspistice, Caliginous Romance | Kismesis, Character Death, Endgame, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Post-Game, Quadrant Confusion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-22
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2017-12-30 03:16:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1013437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellesra/pseuds/Ellesra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It isn't like he stopped being the leader just because the enemy was fought and defeated. Then again they have too many leaders and too little to do, and it's bound to turn into a catastrophe sooner or later.</p>
<p>Especially when you forget that not everything is finished after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The hugging forms of two blondhaired humans dominated the scene. Or, well, it didn’t, a lot was happening that had nothing to do with the two, uniting in the fray of the battle. One had his arms wrapped tight around the other’s torso, the other was loosely embracing, yet both looked glad to see the other.

Well, one Strider was crying while another was facing stoically forward. Either way, Karkat took a moment to memorize the picture before him. He knew Dave missed his brother; during their three years of spending most of their time together, the Hero of Time had let some stuff slip, at least. The Vantas might not be the best at reading people, especially humans, yet even he could observe the change of demeanour when the blond mentioned his brother. Now, a relationship such as that was unfamiliar to him, since the only _family_ he had, if he could use such a strange word, was his lusus.

Loosing your guardian is hard, and it would probably have been even harder if he did not have the chance to revive his crabby lusus into spriteform.

Dave hadn’t had that. He’d gotten himself as a sprite instead. Wasn’t that just a bitch.

Then Dave was gone, as simple as that. Karkat knew he’d gone back in time, probably to maintain his timelines. He’d told him once that he rarely waited until after the battle to jump back. That would mean that after all the fighting was over, he’d have to go back and relive it. _However much he loved fighting_ , he’d told Karkat, _he would always be afraid a battle might be his last_. Dave had probably fought more battles than all the other players combined, not including Aradia. Though Dave wouldn’t remember them all, he’d either have to live through it, or watch himself die.

Red eyes fell on weird pointy shades. The other Strider seemed at a loss, taking a second to gather himself, or something similarly wasteful.

In that moment, the one following Dave’s disappearance, Karkat lurched forward.

He couldn’t let his _friend_ ’s other brother die as well. That would just be a little too cruel.

(there was no way this resembled anything close to pity)

The meteor was pretty fucking full. So many people, all in one space, to _celebrate_. Hopefully, no one would feel the need to approach him. There he sat, in a corner, nursing a drink Lalonde had given him (Lalonde 1.0, beta version). The other one was nowhere in sight, which was, according to the Egbert-girl, because she was afraid of relapsing. Karkat didn’t really care. Drinking was a filthy human habit. If they wanted to stop, they should.

Either way, there he was. Pondering life and people and the forever shrinking troll versus human ratio.

Almost all of the humans had lived through the final battle. One of them, looking like a weird blend between the Egderp and Jade, had sacrificed himself in one giant powerful attack of _Hope_ against English. How fitting that his last name was exactly that.

After that, beating him had actually been easy. Or at least, as easy as beating an immortal can be. English had weakened his counterpart, and they had through some great teamwork managed to restrain him with a combination of their powers.

Somehow, it had worked. Thieves really were useful.

Red eyes searched out glasses hiding the same hue, and found them soon. Dave was standing beside John, his mouth moving rapidly in what Karkat knew to be an extremely metaphorical tirade. Another search of the room proved the other Strider to be absent.

The only place Karkat had really seen the human, had been in Equius’ old room. It was filled with robotics, something the Strider seemed to like. According to Roxy, whom Karkat had found the most loose-mouthed of the three alphas, Dirk was the one suffering most from the loss of English.

Downing the rest of his drink in one go, Karkat decided to go check on him. They might no longer have any need for a leader, but he’d still act the part.

The transportalizer brought him from the room where Can Town had formerly stood, and into the main room. Sollux sat by a husktop, fiddling with some electronics. Karkat didn’t look too closely, but if he was to guess, he’d say Sollux was optimizing his equipment with technology. Damn him and his skills.

With the next transportalizer, he felt his stomach tighten with unease. That was strange indeed, seeing as he’d never felt nauseous transportalizing before.

It must be the human liquid spoor starting to work. Why did he have to be so fucking polite and drink it up.

The room he arrived to is mostly dark, except for one very strong light source in a corner of the room. The whole place was made of metal, with workbenches occupying most of the space. In a corner was a bed, obviously inserted after Equius got himself killed. Spare parts that were formerly scattered on the floor had been sorted into neat piles on the worktables. Whatever piles Equius might have had, they were gone, replaced with some new robots and a blond guy.

“Hey shitstain, why’re you staying cooped in this stinkin’ wormhole, while everyone’s getting their mindsponges addled with shitty liquid sopor?” His voice was strangely enough rougher than usual. When talking, he realized his throat was kind of sore. This made him scowl all the more ferociously.

The Strider didn’t seem fazed by him at all, merely wiping his hands and turning to Karkat, his face not changing a fraction.

Karkat wasn’t used to people who were so calm. Trolls didn’t really do the stoic look very well, so they tended to go with other things. Like rage, or amusement. Lalonde had been like that, but in her alcohol addiction she left that for the mornings.

“I’m not really a drinker,” the Strider spoke. Oh, what eloquent first words to start a conversation with.

“So you hide here like a fucking wiggler scared of getting murdered by his food,” Karkat growled. Somehow, he imagined the Strider would smile at that. He must be too used to Dave, really. This Strider was much better at _keeping his cool_ , so to speak. Though Dave would deny any accusations at being uncool, that’s for certain.

“Why are you here, Vantas?” It seems he’d ignore him like the coolkid he was. A snort of derision was Karkat’s answer to that. Like this guy was even close.

“You might not have noticed it with your head that far up your shithole, but I’m the leader of this sorry crew of trollstains. That means that I have to keep an eye on people, to make sure they don’t drown in their own miserable self-loathing,” he stated, voice coming closer and closer to a rasping growl as he finished. Frustration rose in him as he saw one slim eyebrow rise over those extremely stupid glasses. The Strider didn’t reply.  Of course he didn’t. Karkat put his hand on one of the worktables, feeling even more nauseous now than earlier. Damn it all to horrorterrors, his head felt like uranium the way it pulsed. His vision swam a little.

“Did you have too much?” still in that annoyingly neutral tone, and Karkat made sure to cuss him out before he fell and hit his head on a chair.

(holy fuck where did his feet go)

A headache the size of a meteor ( _the_ meteor) hit him hammer-head first the second he surfaced into consciousness. The light was too damn bright and the clicks of steel hitting steel felt like needles. It felt like he’d been lying outside in the sun, for hours. It did not help that he had a sheet draped over him, like he was a dead body from one of John’s stupid legislacerator-movies. If any human being could ever fall into the category of legislacerator, that is.

With a groan, Karkat turned his head to try and shut out the intense white light. The white sheet did not make things easier. With his head turned towards the wall, he hesitantly cranked an eye open, not looking forward to lying here one second longer. Even the dark wall felt too sharp in his eyes, and his pupil zoomed in and out in an attempt to focus.

After several minutes of dumbly facing the wall, listening to the timid clicks of workmanship behind him, he finally decided to brave the light. And of course, it hurt like a damned hoofbeast stepping on his mindsponge.

On the other side of the lab, he could vaguely see the spiky-haired Strider getting his work on. Karkat allowed himself a few minutes to make sense of the situation. There was very little sense to be had.

Then something caught his eye. Looking at the floor, eye drawn by something red, he froze immediately. On the floor stood a pail, conveniently placed close to the human sleepspace.

To make matters worse, there was liquid in it.

It was red.


	2. Chapter 2

The ensuing tirade after Karkat finally woke up to notice a _bucket_ on the floor went on for quite the long time before Mr Numbface Strider decided to cut in.

“-AND IF YOU THINK I WON’T SKIN YOU WITH A FORK FOR TAKING ADVANTAGE OF SOMEONE BEING DRUGGED ON ALCOHOL LIKE THIS THEN YOU ARE DEAD FUCKING WRONG BECAUSE I’LL MAKE SURE NO ONE WILL EVER RECOGNIZE THAT SMUG SHITTING FACE OF YOURS AGAIN YOU DESPICABLE DESPAIR OF A CLOVE-BEASTS FECES-“

“Vantas.” The chill voice cut through the shouting like a legendary sword through a starter imp. As in, Karkat shut the fuck up, staring dumbly at the horrible human being in front of him.

“You bring up quite the valid points where spoons and grub-eating is concerned,” the sarcasm dripping off the words making the aforementioned Vantas tighten his grip on twin sickles, “but I had no idea your genetic material is red, before you assumed that what is in the bucket was, in fact, a result of me raping your virgin ass.” At this, baffled blinking resulted as the realisation hit. The information he had given up in his ignorance.

Karkat felt very close to tears. Dangerously so. The rage was still boiling, though, and the want to rip the human apart and feast on his body was not far from mind.

“Why the ever-loving huskjerking fuck would you use a pail!?” was the only response he could manage to produce without yowling. Too much.

At the sight of a single, slim eyebrow, though, he gave up on restraint. To prevent a serious mishap, he instead decided that storming out of the room would be the best course of action.

Once outside, the gravity and _stupidity_ of the situation hit him full force. How much of a senseless fuckup could you possibly be!? Of course the Strider hadn’t raped him. For one he did not seem like the type to go that far for physical release. At all. Secondly, Strider could probably have anyone if he just bothered to get out of that lab of his, so of course he wouldn’t do him. Who the fuck would even want to rape him?

He should go back and apologize.

Instead he walked down the corridors, footsteps loud in the silence. Fuck this, fuck everything. This situation could just go to hell and have a picnic. With ants. And lots of annoying flies. Just like a stupid human movie.

Sometimes, he wondered why he did not have a moirail. Then he remembered, of course, how truly despicable he was, and hey, mystery solved. It would be nice with a jam right now, though. His eyes went longingly to John's door as he passed it. Dave also lived close by. Two people Karkat was possibly the human definition of friends with. How friendship was even a thing that worked, well that was a mystery in itself. Probably a debate that would end up in a lot of shouting and crude drawing. At least if Dave was the other opinion in the debate.

… What was he even thinking. Dave wasn't moirail material. For one, he would probably never jam back. That guy was as closed off as a game company when reviewers came. Secondly, that he would ever give concrete advice was a lost case.

John, he was simply too... simple. The probability that he would understand the complicated nuances of such a relationship was below zero. He was simply that slow on the uptake, Karkat decided as he promptly walked into a person. A grey, very much taller than him-person.

"Hey best motherfucking... uhm... friendleader," the troll uttered, his voice a mix between hopelessly tranquil and dangerously rough. Or perhaps that was just former experiences talking. Maybe Gamzee's voice was as plain as can be, free from complications. Either way, when Karkat looked into dark eyes that had slowly started bleeding into a blue-ish purple, the gaze shifted and irises pointed consciously away.

"Makara," he greeted, quite politely, if he may say so himself. Things hadn't really been the same between Gamzee and him after the whole ordeal. Following Lord English's fall, it had been clear that the highblood had attempted to rekindle their relationship. It's a bit harder to forget, than to forgive, however.

Gamzee escaped pretty fast after that, only revealing that he was on his way to the kitchen. Probably to bake some pie and suck up to the Crocker-girl. Seemed she was even better than him at making pies, or some shit.

Not that Karkat paid attention to what Gamzee made of his time. Not any more than a leader would, anyway.

When he suddenly found himself in his room, it was actually pretty depressing. He had not been waiting to meet someone in the hall that would realize his distress, of course, but doing so would be nice either way.

Until he closed himself off and went to hide in a corner, at least.

His recuperacoon was not really a nice place to drown himself. Especially since he couldn't drown in sopor, because of the large amount of oxygen it contains. Somehow, the sight of it also made him think of the Condescension, and he did not want to die while thinking of her. They had won, goddamn it, let it rest already. 

The problem was, and is, that they couldn't really let it rest. They still had to collect their prize, to win the actual game, not just the fight against Lord English. With Jade's powers, it would be, if not easy, then certainly more trouble-free than their earlier attempts. However, there was still the matter of finding the Genesis frog (again), and defeating the denizens of this world. Or, at the very least, challenging them.

There was a whole battlefield to put in place, really, and Karkat was just too damn tired to plan right now. They had been celebrating. Then he had somehow ended up on a concupiscence platform, like he was some drone-hunted troll on a pail-raid. The amount of imbecilic in his last night alone should be enough to make anyone want to puke their guts out in disgust.

Instead of lying down in the sopor, he laid down in an old pile of his, relishing in the calming effect of sharp objects poking into his ribs. How humans could relax on their platforms was truly a mystery.

The calm didn't last long. He had already slept too long tonight, and just the thought of more made his thinkpan throb. His hand rose to give himself a quick pap on the cheek, before he realized what he was doing and groaned. What kind of troll is that pathetic, seriously.

Somehow, he ended up walking out of the room, and into the main computer room. Sollux was there, as usual. On another husktop, a few seats down from him, sat the pink Lalonde, tapping away just as rapidly as the troll. Karkat rolled his eyes when he saw them glancing at each other, continuing their clickety-clacking with a fervor. 

A long time ago, a quadrant with Sollux might have been a possibility. Now, they had grown apart, and Karkat rarely saw the yellow text on his Trollian anymore. So who was left, really? Terezi had pulled away even more after her destructive affair. At least she was off the faygo now, Karkat contemplated as his thinkpan attempted to lead him onto the subjects of quadrants with Terezi. That passenger-bearing vehicle had passed a long time ago, taking, as it did, all his future romance prospects. Then again, no Karkat had ever been good in the romance department. His insecurity today was proof of that.

"Hey crabby, I need to talk to you," which was less asking and more 'get over here'. Having an extreme lack of excuses to oppose the order, he walked over to her.

"I reely think it's tidal to get on with things," she stated, so strangely calm and collected. Karkat wasn't sure if he liked the change. Meenah had been annoying before, as well as quite scary, but this felt wrong. Then again, they had all changed, and while many had just become even sillier, some had decided to cast that aside.

Well, at least she hadn't stopped with the fish puns. The world would truly end.

"I know you're afraid somefin is gonna happen again, but there ain't no sharks left. We should just hurry and finfish the game so we can hook in the rewards'n get it over with," she says. She seemed irritated, but no wonder. All her friends were still dead. While Karkat had lost many of his, the closest were still there, even if he didn't really talk to most of them lately. She left hers behind.

"I know, I know," he grumbled back. Before he could say anything else, however, she interrupted.

"Vantas, you're acting like a total dumbfish. You're supposed to be the leader line of this fishing rod, but the bait's just lyin on the ground useless and the line's all tangled. You need ta get yourself together, cus these people trust you."

The confusion must have been very apparent on his face. She leaned closer, and the tip of her fins pricked his cheek as she gave him a hug.

Karkat had made looking like a frozen idiot into an art form.

"Come to my hivespace later," she ordered, giving him a condescending pat on the cheek as she turned and walked off.

Of all the quadrants he'd imagined to fill, this was not one of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hello Peixes where did you come from


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strong ladies who don't need no man. (So why do they ask for him??)

Before he had a chance to go to Meenah's block, he managed to come face to face with a certain Egbert-clone. Or, technically it was the opposite, but who the fuck even cared. No one. There was absolutely no fucks given.

How he had even managed to meet her, on the small way he had to walk back to his room, well that was a miracle. Karkat hadn't eaten today, but usually kept that to a bare minimum anyway, since Gamzee spent so much time in the kitchen (aka room with the alchemizer). Either way, the kitchen was nowhere near this hall, and her room was on the other side of the asteroid.

"Mister Vantas," she said, and he could just hear from her sly, teasing tone that she knew something and she was going to talk to him about it. Why today. Why now. The slight haze that had lingered in his mind after his encounter with Meenah had lifted, and now a headache the size of Skaia was pounding on the sponges of his auriculars. What could she even want.

“I heard from a rather trusty source that you have been sleeping in a certain Strider’s bed.” His eyes certainly bulged at the implication. It was going around already!? Dirk must have told her. Them. Everyone? God, his head hurt.

“Well whatever ridiculous rumormonger told you that, they were definitely wrong.” Karkat opened his mouth to start ranting, or something ridiculously loudmouthed, but her finger stopped him. Her finger on his fucking mouth. Who even does that!?

“Dirk told me. I think he was a bit freaked out,” she told him, as she started fiddling with a stray fold. She suddenly looked uncertain. Great, just what he needed, some awkward hanging around in the corridors so other people can come and accost him with idiotic accusations.

“So?”

“So…” a pause, god dammit Crocker. “We haven’t really seen him much lately. It kind of feels like we’ve tried everything. I- no, we want him to come out of his room sometimes, you know?” She sighed.

“Just tell me what you want, Crocker.” Her frown was everything he did not need right now.

“I was wondering if you could try as well. You’re the first person he has spent more than ten minutes with, lately.”

“Shouldn’t his moirail fix that? I’m not some pale whore for hire just because I’m the leader of this goddamn group of misfits, and this friend-thing of yours is such an abomination I don’t even want to touch it for fear of cancer-“

“Vantas! Shut your trap and listen!” He shut his trap accordingly.

“I want you to get him out of his fuss. Dirk doesn’t have a moirail, and I bet you and your thickheaded self will be able to get close to him. So I’m not asking anyone else. I’m asking you. Got it, buster?!” Karkat felt his hairs rise on the back of his neck, his adrenaline suddenly kickstarting. There was just something about her that was vaguely terrifying. The alpha generation had been right in assigning her as their leader. After all, she’d been one of the people who had done the most in the fight.

He almost answered ‘yes ma’am’, but then he changed his mind (or found it, more likely), and rather just nodded. The Crocker stalked away, steps strangely firm and resolute. Karkat could almost see what Dave saw in her. Somewhat. Under all the Dominatrix.

Well, it was a rather lovely mess he’d gotten himself in. Not only did he now have to report to Meenah’s room, he also had a raging female expecting changes in a situation he was quite sure he could do nothing about. Karkat would love to call himself a quadrant expert, but his many endeavors had shown him that he was a complete failure. So now his romantic escapades would once more be pulled into the light, for the amusement of everyone.

Oh well, why not just get it over with.

His feet dragged his reluctant body over to the sea-troll’s room. On the door was a drawn picture of an actual fish, together with the words “Blubb off!” with at least eight exclamation marks. Karkat counted. Yes, eight.

Before he even knocked, the door opened. Sharp teeth greeted his ganderbulbs. This was such a mistake.

Even so, she dragged him inside, and straight into a pile of- wow, actual gemstones. It actually made a pretty sweet surface for lounging, Karkat found once he found a nice position. One of the gems were picked up, and yes, after scrutiny it proved to be real.

“Whale, are you going to sail something?” She said, as she somewhat scattered the gems with the added weight of her body. Her face was unnervingly close his. Of course, proximity was a part of moirallegiance, but this relationship could hardly be called a full-formed allegiance yet.

“Firstly, this thing is such a bad idea, it’s like it was shit out of a turd with bad digestion which again came from a poet with such crap for brains he thought naming his poem ‘Human Love’ was nice and original,” he started, baring his teeth as he once again spat out so much useless it should be illegal. “Secondly you were the one who started this so you better start jamming before my brain catches up with its forsaken demented processors.” His tone was strangely calm. Even if he was generally ranted, it wasn’t nearly as loudly as he usually did. Huh.

“We’ll get this boat on the waves, no worries.” One grey hand reached over and gave him a pat on the jaw. It still felt mocking, somehow. Even so, he reached over to give her a few paps as well. Meenah leaned into the touch, sighing contentedly. Thus he ended up as the royal papper. It felt like he did that a lot.

Thinking about Gamzee kind of broke the calm he’d come into.

“Y’know, I’m just so damn tired of some people,” he admitted, the tone of his voice suggesting it was no longer just random ranting. It seemed she noticed, because her fins twitched, and she inched closer.

“Like Makara. He just keeps being in my face all the time, like nothing happened between us. After everything he did, I can’t just be a blasted idiot of a pushover and let him in again,” Karkat confessed. Meenah nuzzled into the crook of his neck.

“And now Crocker wants me to somehow get Stride- I mean Dirk, to come out of his self-made shell of depression and misery with my mad friendship skills and it’s so imbecilic because they should _know_ that’s a thing that’s gonna screw them in the face with a hoof-clad foot _forever._ ”

Meenah sighed. Her sharp nails scratched his neck gently. The motion sent a shiver down his spine.

“You’re so coddamn stubborn. U just gotta let it go, you’know? The tides have turned and you’re not the same troll you used to be so you should give yourself the oceance to be krill and just drift. You worry enough for yourself already, you shouldn’t harp’ta care for the littoral damage as well,” and her voice was soft, reassuring. Karkat hadn’t really thought this was going to work in any other sense than the physical, but Meenah sure seemed to be insightful on the subject. Maybe he could just let go and listen to her…

“Tell me your problems,” he then changed the subject. Her pap went a little too hard against his nose. He sniffed, but continued to pap her back.

“Ha-ha, whale I guess you abalone know, but, eh, I seariously miss my guys,” she shrugged, acting, as he saw it, rather superfluously nonchalant. Like he couldn’t see through that right away.

“How about the people here? Gotten to know any of them?”

“The Pyrope is kinda cool,” she admitted. “A bit less intides than Latula, which sea cow’d be nice I guess.” Another shrug. “Roxy ain’t too bad. I kinda liked John from before, but cod kelp me I can’t watch another human movie,” she shuddered, and Karkat laughed.

“I miss Vriska. We were a pretty ray pair,” a smile, and some reassuring papping.

“Were you quadranted?” Karkat said, and saw her fins flutter a bit. She shook her head, however.

“We were somewhelk between pale and red? So losin her was kinda hard.” With that they fell silent. There were so many dead people, and no guarantee they would ever come back. If they created a new universe, the old dreambubbles might cease to exist. They just had no way of knowing. It was some scary shit.

From the silence rose the calming sound of a purr. Another joined it, slightly more scratched, more low-pitched.

The daze that followed was the most at peace Karkat had been in forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heh, thanks for reading, and being patient! Very much appreciated.


	4. Chapter 4

The churning of his stomach broke the silence as he waited for Dirk to open the door. Karkat could feel the unease coiling, bringing back a vague yet too strong memory of the nauseous last night. Fuck, what was he even doing here. Dirk didn’t want to see him. The Strider couldn’t care less if he was sorry. He’d probably only stare blankly at him, shrug, be the human essence of a dead-pan, and Karkat would make a fool of himself again. If only he had stayed-

A mechanical whirr broke his thoughts, as they rather honed in on the human-white hair and stupid pointed glasses. A slim eyebrow rose above the shades, and Karkat could not help but hate that idiotic thing like it had just killed his lusus. Then, of course, he had to admonish himself on having such a strong reaction to an expression. Which, quite frankly, he could only see one tenth of.

“Hey,” he said lamely, catching the skin of his inner cheek between his teeth as he frantically looked for more words. What kind of bonehead was he, to loose control of his thinkpan in such a situation? Truly pathetic.

“Vantas,” Strider greeted, or perhaps merely urged him on. Maybe it was his way of saying ‘get it over with already’. “What brings you to my humble abode?” and doom it if he didn’t manage to keep his tone completely even as he said that. Karkat would be impressed, if he hadn’t spent his whole life surrounded by people with strange skills. Being calm like that certainly wasn’t a troll thing, but then again Karkat knew the guy had a side just as crazy as any troll’s. He had seen him fight, and if that didn’t get someone’s bloodpusher to pulse with adrenaline, then you sure were a cold bastard.

“I… I owe you an apology. I acted like a moron, and I shouldn’t have done that after I went and passed out in your bed like the rude fuckwit I am,” Karkat rambled, feeling like all control had escaped him. That sure was a whole lot of bullshit, and Strider would probably just scoff at him or close the door or something equally rude.

After what felt like a pause the length of a century, Strider replied. “You passed out on the floor, actually.” Wow, like he hadn’t felt like shit already.

“Thank you for that, like I needed castigation. Way to be a muttonheaded bulgemuncher, Strider, the commentary is truly appreciated. My melted thinkpan is just about to fly away with the fantastic new knowledge you have so gallantly bestowed upon it,” Karkat bit out, and indeed, seems he was back to his old tracks. He wasn’t sure if he should be happy or irritated or just feel even worse about the situation. The last two was a good start. Perhaps he could build up to the first, if he was in a particularly good mood.

When Strider didn’t answer for a moment, Karkat was truly afraid he’d kicked the hornbeast, there was no going back, this creature would only see red blood and sliced thinkpans now. Then there was the tiniest of shrugs. “Glad I could further your education, Vantas. Anything else?”

Oh well. Here we go. Time to jump ship and hope there’s no sharks. Or something.

“Wanna hang out for a bit?”

_(just say no and this’ll be over with and I can creep back to my own miserable existence)_

An hour later, they were halfway through one of Strider’s movies.

Strider had placed himself on a pillow, while Karkat found the floor comfortable enough. He was quite caught, to tell the truth. Drawn movies was not something he usually watched, but then again troll anime was a strange and disturbing category, filled with overly sweet characters. The film category was mostly associated with kinks on Alternia. It seemed that in the human community, this kind of anime was more common.

Currently, Haku and Chihiro were flying together. It was beautiful. Such a perfect representation of the pale quadrant, it just screamed diamonds, to the point it was almost borderline pornographic. Karkat might have to go back to Meenah after this, if only briefly. If you have a moirail, you should take advantage of it, right?

A glance was sent over to the human. From this angle, Karkat could see his eyes behind the glasses. They were directed towards the screen, and with the realization that he might be missing something vital.

“Wait, what!?” he suddenly screeched. Strider’s head whipped towards him. Karkat could no longer see his eyes, but didn’t particularly care to either.

“He’s a river? He’s a goddamn river. How is that even possible. Who could think that was a good idea?” as he raged, his hands trailed the air slowly, fingers tensed as a sign of how utterly ridiculous it was.

“He’s a river spirit. This entire movie has been about spirits, and you only got it now.” Back with that fucking flat tone again. Fuck him and his whore piehole.

“Of course I knew there were spirits. I’m talking about them being together! They can’t keep their relationship up if he’s a river somewhere far away from her!” No, that was simply not acceptable.

Strider gave a chuckle. Wow, it was the first emotional reaction Karkat had gotten out of him today. What a douchebag.

“I don’t think it counts as a relationship yet man. I mean, they haven’t even kissed, and she’s probably around eight or something while he’s thousand of years old,” he pointed out, leaning back against the wall. The entire situation was giving Karkat kind of pale vibes, especially seeing as there was pale porn literally right in front of them, but he was ignoring it in favour of the movie, which was moving along to- wait, what, Chihiro didn’t remember what happened?

“What the fuck is that!? That is not alright!” Karkat turned his face away, because no way is he letting Strider see the pale red slowly running down his cheek. He wiped it away, and turned back to scowl at the screen as music started playing, text informing of creators and actors.

“Are you crying?” Strider then asked, of fucking course. Karkat threw a pillow at him in response. He brushed it aside with ease, and Karkat threw another one just to make a point. “There is nothing wrong in being invested in a movie, asshat. And anyway! Do you know nothing about quadrants? Anyone can see that those two are so in diamonds, it’s so obvious even a grub would agree. Age doesn’t even matter that much, I mean how would highbloods even fill their pale quadrant if age was that important. Yes, they could fill it with highbloods of the same age, but its proven time and time again that highblood’s shouldn’t get an allegiance with someone who is also viable for the highblood rage, it makes for pretty bad calming if they are both having a fit. And of course, there’s the matter of protection …”, and as such, Karkat’s rants on the quadrants had truly started.

The human, meanwhile, simply sat there. He might be looking at Karkat, or he might still be looking at the electrical viewing box. There was simply no way of telling from the way the Strider had positioned himself, mostly facing Karkat, but with his head still not directed straight at him.

As Karkat started getting into the other quadrants, a hand was raised to stop him. “Why don’t we watch one of your movies? Then I can see the quadrants in action, and you won’t have to explain it all. If there’s something I don’t get, I can ask you.” Well, that was a rather good suggestion. Strider was probably dead tired of him ranting away anyway. Either way, this was the first time in years that someone had actually asked for _his_ movies, and there was no way he was saying no to that.

“Hell yes, I’ll be right back,” Karkat said as he rose from his seat, and gave barely a glance to Strider before he went out the door.

Walking over to his block gave him some time to think the situation over. Unfortunately, his thinkpan was unwilling to cooperate, and there was more annoying static than words involved in its processes. Thankfully, he didn’t meet anyone on the way, a blessing in itself. Instead of thinking about him and Strider and where the fuck that was even going, he rather tried to decide which movie would best explain one or all of the quadrants.

In the end five movies were chosen, all with different plots, but generally revolving around romance. Dirk could choose which he wanted to watch, and thus Karkat could not be blamed if he didn’t like it. Such a fool proof plan.

And if he didn’t like any of them? Well fuck him right up the ass with a steel rod, then.

Karkat made his wait out of his sleeping space again, and his feet took him in the direction of Equius/Dirk’s rooms.

Just as he rounded a corner to the offending hall, a quake made him loose his balance. A string of curses followed his fall, and suddenly the wall turned into the floor and he was standing once more.

Shit. Whatever the fuck had just happened, it wasn’t good. Strider was suddenly beside him, and, yes, for some reason that made him feel immensely better about the fact that he was currently standing on the wall. They nodded to each other, and together they went to investigate.

\---

They just arrived in time to see Dave being speared by a pole. Of course, they both react, but even with Strider’s speed, they don’t get to the monster before Jane, her form glowing with power and her face in a grimace of rage. Karkat saw with dread that it was indeed Noir, though he looked very little like himself. One ear had been bit off almost by the root. There was a cut that went down his side, glowing with green power, as well as a whole lot of stumped tentacles and a certain lack of darkness to his black fur. Bec Noir looked faded in a way Karkat hadn’t even thought possible. However, now was not the time to think of such things. With a burst of speed, he arrived at Dave’s side. The pole was stabbed right through his lungs, holy fuck, and Karkat couldn’t help but just… Fall to his knees and stare as Dave desperately attempted to draw breath. His eyes glazed over. Other than a few twitches, his body stopped moving.

It happened too fast. Karkat couldn’t do anything but close those red eyes, and feel his stomach cramp as he stared at the body of his best friend. His _best_ friend. Gone. And Karkat had no idea if he would ever see him again. The dreambubbles weren’t exactly in good order these days, and Dave might not awake from his memories in time for them to at least _talk_ before they finished the game. For all he knew, the last time he had talked with Dave was after the battle, before the party started. Goddamn it, somehow he should have predicted this. Bec Noir had still been at large, but they hadn’t really seen him since- since he ran off with Jade’s body.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Tears started to cloud his eyes as he looked up. Bec Noir was no longer fighting. He was lying on the ground, a trident through his neck, deep enough that the ends were embedded in the floor. Jane was staring his way. A realization hit him.

“Jane! Jane you- fuck-” Karkat heaved once with a sob, before he rose to his feet with determination. “You have to revive him!” Because Dave was a god tier, but the only person glowing in the vicinity was Jane, and she was shaking her head, and fuck, Karkat couldn’t bear the look in her eyes. It was too pitiful, too pitying, and he just wanted to go drown himself right now.

“I’ve already revived him once, Karkat,” she said, almost a whisper, and yet he heard her so very, very clear. That’s right. After the battle, there had been more than one person Jane had to revive. It wasn’t fair, though. This shouldn’t have been a fair death.

“Did he- did he do anything heroic?” Karkat asked, no, he demanded, because he needed to know, was there any chance at all Dave would come back? His head whipped around when he saw Dirk approach the body. With almost inhuman strength, he grabbed the pole, and moved it. There was a sickening sound as it went out of Dave’s body, and another as he fell the small distance to the ground, his back causing the small puddle of blood underneath it to scatter. Karkat realized he was breathing way too hard, but couldn’t care less as he once more fell to his knees beside the Striders.

“NO!” a voice shouted behind them, and then John was beside them as well, gripping the bloodied, ruined rags of the god-tier shirt. The time gear had been ruined, ripped apart by the pole.

“What happened!?” and he was enraged, more angry than Karkat had ever seen him. Karkat could distantly see those blue eyes scanning around, but instead of doing anything, saying anything, he lowered his head, and softly leaned his head against Dave’s.

He waited for hours. Dave did not revive. People came and left, people grieved.

They needed to finish the game. Karkat couldn’t bear to have any more deaths on his conscience.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fuck. This wasn't meant to happen.
> 
> I'm sorry.


	5. Chapter 5

Karkat wasn't the only one who felt they should get on with things. In the following weeks, they all worked hard to finish whatever tasks were assigned them. Dave was one of the few people there who were actually friends with everyone. As far as Karkat could see, even Gamzee seemed to have turned sour, a mood which showed through his extensive scowling and determined actions. Even he did his fair share of the work, though he often resorted to strange solutions. Jade had been offering to teleport them wherever they were needed. Jane was whipping them around, making sure things were getting done.

Once, he ended up in Meenah's room again, and she had papped and reassured him solemnly. That was actually the only time he'd slept those last couple of weeks, which had to be at least 6 days ago. He was definitely feeling that, but he also knew what would meet him if he closed his eyes now. One more dead friend.

Instead, he busied himself. Sometimes, Jade or Jane or Sollux would shoo him over to the alchemizer, making sure he ate something. Kanaya might come over with something vaguely food-ish. Meenah would hazzle him about it until he ate.

Suddenly people were very careful that the others were alright. Of course, this meant him as well, taking it upon himself to make sure that everyone kept moving forward, one step at a time.

Dirk had, surprisingly, not retreated back to his room. Instead, he helped Jane, doing whatever she wanted him to. More than once Karkat saw her lean into him, and felt a vague pang of jealousy. Dammit, this was not the time for stuff like that. First, he had to make sure they all got through it. What kind of pity he even felt jealous over, that was a mystery even to him.

Then the day came. They were going. Everything was ready. There were no more enemies to fight. The door should be unguarded, unlocked, their path into a new world.

"Karkat," a voice uttered behind him, as they were all gathering in the main lab. As he turned around, his stomach did a tumble. It was Terezi, and she was looking up at him with those damaged eyes of hers, not completely blind, but enough so that she didn't need to go all the way. Her black lips seemed strange when they weren't outlining those sharp teeth. Instead, they were rather pinched.

"Are you alright?" Fuck, having her be this... Calm, solemn, it just felt wrong.

"Are you?" he answered, voice scratchy in a way she might believe to be verging on faltering. He wasn't going to cry, so fuck that. Fuck that so hard it had to crawl through a festering sewer and die.

She bowed her head. Drew up her shoulders. Then they stood in silence, waiting for the last people to get there. The silence between them bordered on awkward, but even so there was this strange understanding. They both missed him. They missed the bond they had shared, before all had gone to hell. They both felt that sorrow, and there was a certain kind of unity in that.

Finally, Jade entered the room, together with Rose. The rest were gathered in the room, either nervously chattering or staring mutely ahead. Jade clapped her hands, and they all fell silent immediately.

"Alright, everyone! I'm going to transfer you all now, so don't freak out!" before, as suddenly as her claps, everything was black and then coloured and then red. The simplistic hive stood before them, large and red and constrasting the nothingness around it. Except for one little detail, a door just as red as the structure. Karkat breathed in harshly, his bloodpusher pumping like crazy to keep up with the heightened adrenaline.

It was like a collective breath was held by them all. They all stood still, staring ahead, at the goal, the prize no one knew what was. Yes, becoming gods was well and good, but what did it entail?

A laughter broke the silence. John whirled forward, blowing the door open. He turned, bowed deeply, and said "girls first", quoting a strange human custom that Karkat could at least somewhat understand. Better to have the females up front, their backs to you, so you have the upper hand. Females are tricky creatures.

Jane stepped up, always the one to take initiative. All eyes were on her, some with trepidation, other with fascination. Then she walked inside, no more fuss. No goodbyes, because of course they would see each other on the other side. There was no question about it. Like it was some unspoken rule of passage, the alpha generation of kids ended up walking in first. John followed right after, and thus was it that the rest of the humans ended up taking the next turn. John, Jade, Rose. No Dave, because fuck that bastard, he'd gone and died on them.

Whispers were the only sound as people disappeared into the whiteness. Karkat was a hundred percent certain he wasn't sniffling when he motioned the other trolls to go before him. Just that they had looked to him, though, for confirmation, that touched some pityglands deep inside him. Fuck, what if they never saw each other again. What if they lived out the rest of eternity as some kind of shitty higher-than-thou immortal entity, bound to their state of godliness as a twisted reward to this awful game? There was nothing about being a god that sounded like a good deal to him. It all just sounded fucked up, really. Meenah went last, before him. She laid her hand on his shoulder, like some silent farewell, like they'd never fucking see each other again (whatever is holy, please let them all reunite in some kind of way), and then she walked ahead and disappeared. Just like everyone else, her form faded into the white once she stepped inside.

For a moment, he looked around, taking in that feeling of being utterly alone. Then he went through the door as well.

Only to be utterly disappointed when all he found was a white room. Meenah wasn't there, however, so that must mean they all came to this place separately. Minutes were spent just looking around. Ahead of him was a panel. A screen. When he walked closer, there was a question there.

> What do you want?

There was a keyboard there, so the screen obviously expected him to write something. Was this something that would decide how his life went from here on out?

Thus started what was probably hours of thinking. What if he messed up? What if he did something stupid like his usual panbrained self and fucked up everything? It was too big a thing, like being given three wishes and then having to decide whether to wish for the gold or the world peace, the quadrants or the happiness of those around him. Should he wish for blood that wasn't so fucking red and noticeable? A system where everyone lived in perfect harmony? A place where his quadrants were filled with wonderful trolls (and maybe humans)? To have his hive and his lusus back?

There must be a single thing he had wished for many times, though. Something that he knew for certain was the one thing he wanted in this new world.

> For everyone to be alive.

Perhaps he should have wished for something more selfish. Half of them would probably wish for this. Then again, what if they all thought this, and then wrote something else? No, this was the only thing he could wish for. He clicked the enter-button.

The whole room quaked. There was a flash of white, or perhaps it was just the screen disappearing. The room was too white to tell the difference. Either way, something red appeared in the corner of his ganderbulbs. Karkat whirled around. What met his bulbs was a large stone slab, dark red, with a bright red mark on it. The mark was his, that of blood. That of his aspect.

A feeling of panic. This was it. He would become godtier, like all the others. Well, almost all the others. All of the humans, really. Meenah was the only troll still alive that had reached that high.

Now he would become immortal as well. Perhaps that was all that would happen here. He would become god tier, and then enter an immortal life in this new galaxy they had created. What a dreary prospect.

Even so he approached, cursing everything he knew when he got close enough to see the knife, placed neatly on the blood-symbol.

So he would have to do it. Finally do what he had thought of so many times, taking his useless little life.

_It's not like you won't come back, moron._

_Have a little fucking pride, and use whatever courage you have left you stinking bulgehead._

_What will happen if I just lie here?_

Karkat wasn't sure how long he ended up lying on that rock. After a while, it felt more like days than hours. Then again, he wasn't the Knight of Time, so how the fuck would he know. Only Blood, blood that he was too much of a coward to spill on that goddamn round sacrificial tablet.

Well, it doesn't seem like he was getting out of this, he found as he fiddled with the knife. It looked sharp. Beautiful as well, in a simple kind of way. Not at all like the kind of weapons they had ended up with, in the end.

Where should he even slice? His wrist? His throat? The blade was long enough that he could slice his stomach as well. However, that seemed needlessly painful.

In the end, he chose the wrists, just to complete this fucked up circle of self-destruction. It felt much less like a sacrifice, and more like a final fuck you to everything life.

And so that cursed red blood spilled. And spilled. He couldn't watch. He could just feel the pain, then the lack of pain, then the darkness.

Then nothing.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New world, old rules.

**Chapter 6**

Waking up was unlike any awakening Karkat had ever experienced. For one, there was no slow realization that he was awake. Neither was there the rough surfacing from a daymare, with heavy breath and bloodshot eyes. Rather, it was the sudden feeling of existence. The transition from void to existence, from nothingness to air pulled into lungs, and something pressing against his back and nerves registering every little movement of the earth and sounds, so many sounds, all filtered into each other but still individual, the sounds of his body and the sounds of the nature around him and the sound of the worried chattering of his custodian-

And blood. The pounding of blood, being pumped out of his pusher once more. The feeling of it as it filled his veins, red and thick and  _ alive _ . Somehow this was the most natural feeling in the world, this awareness. Even as Karkat opened his eyes and took in the dusk and the white custodian worrying his shoulder and the purple grass framing his face, the knowledge of how his blood was acting was the clearest sense still. It didn't leave him as he stood up, looked around, nor when he gave his crabby guardian a hug.

The hug obviously lasted a bit too long, because his lusus gave a resounding screech, until he let him go and allowed him to check out his general wellbeing some more. When Karkat finally felt it prudent to check himself, he looked down and saw his colour. Not his blood, which he knew just too well the whereabouts of, but instead the sign of it. On his back was a cape, he noticed, quite similar to the one Dave used to wear. Luckily, his clothes were not the same colour as Dave's, but rather a dark reddish brown.

Of course, he had seen the outfit before. It had been worn by a lot of doomed Karkats. Now it was his, and rather than pride, he experienced a certain lack of caring. That he had wings and some shitty clothes didn't matter. There was no need for being God Tier anymore.

However, that did not mean he did not make an attempt at flying. It was, strangely, not his wings that lifted him off the ground. As he floated, several feet above his former position, he had no need to flap his wings even once. Rather, it felt like gravitation had been shut off temporarily, like he could control the way the world worked around him.

A worried croak of a sound came from his lusus, and Karkat quickly came back to earth, both in mind and body. After looking at his guardian for all of two seconds, he gave him another hug. No, he was not crying. There was absolutely no way the red tint that started to colour his lusus' shoulder was tears.

Communication between them happened with clicking and chattering. Once Karkat had assured himself of his lusus' safety, he allowed him to escort him to their hive.

_ Indeed _ , he remarked flatly to himself,  _ this is my hive _ . Vibrations wracked his chest. It was so familiar, it was like he’d been there only yesterday. However, it had been close to two and a half sweeps since he had seen it last.

The inside was just as he remembered it had been before SGRUB even happened. The furniture that he had, over the years, realized was incredibly ugly; his room, with his computer and coon and holy shit those are his _posters_ -

With a thump, his back hit the floor. For what feels like eternity, he just lay there, taking it all in. Once he grew weary of eternity a few minutes in, he rose, and sat himself on the wheeled seating device by his husktop.

The pixels flared into colours, transitioning into the background he knew so well. His programs loaded. The first he opened was of course Trollian. Even through the fog of nostalgia, he rather wanted to find his friends. Ask them if their hives were placed similar to how they had been located on Alternia. And- perhaps more importantly, if the humans had come to this place. For all he knew, they could be on another planet... Or perhaps even another universe. They had originally been, after all.

A heavy feeling of dread started to coil his internal organs, giving him both the instinct to trash someone with his sickles, and to find someone's lap to cry into. Trollian loaded. And loaded. And loaded some more. Karkat was just about to throw his husktop across the room in rage when he was given an error message. A message saying that Trollian could not be found.

That was preposterous. There could be no universe where Trollian was not a thing. Even across universes, it had been a reliable program.

If it didn't exist, how was he supposed to get in touch with his friends?

After some time doing nothing other than looking at his various programs with nostalgia, Karkat ended up watching a movie. This felt way too much like old times, when all he did was watch films, read books and talk to friends. Minus the friends part. There was no fucking Trollian anymore. What the fuck was he going to do about that?

Go outside, he figured. It was still night outside, and he would definitely have time for a walk before sunrise.

If there even was a sun.

Not bothering to pause the movie, Karkat could hear the familiar dialogue in the background as he exited the block.

His custodian croaked at him as he passed, before he busied himself with something that looked suspiciously like a strange version of cleaning. Huh.

The air outside didn't taste like Alternia. If Karkat had any doubt that this place was not, in fact, his home planet, the lack of hives around his own assured it. However, the path leading from his home was still there, going into a forest off in the distance. Karkat made sure he had his sickles on him, before he started walking down the road.

The forest was unlike any he had seen before. For one, while he had only seen leaves of bright colours, these were a dark, green-tinted grey. The encasing was a lighter grey, though large parts was covered with variously coloured moss.

On the horizon to his left, the moon was setting. Or at least it must be a moon, Karkat pondered as he took in the sight. The thing was large and red, though more a light, rust colour than that of his own blood. It was larger than Alternia's two moons put together. Either it must be very close, or it wasn't a moon at all. It might actually be that the planet he was on was the lunar object.

The path led him into the thicket, the ranks of trunks growing closer as he went. Karkat brought out his sickles. He might be immortal. He also might not be. Either way, best be prepared.

After a couple hundred steps or so, the trees started to grow further apart once more. Karkat slowed his rather hurried pace, cautious with the lack of cover. Then there were no more trees, and he stood on a cliff, the landscape unfolding before him.

The large amount of lights surprised him. Karkat had never seen a city this large, stretching as far as the eye could see, with buildings that stretched towards the sky. To the right was a sea, the first he had seen – and  _ smelled - _ in person. The wind pulled his hair, his eyes hurt slightly from the sudden brightness, and Karkat felt very much baffled by this turn of events.

He wasn't alone. Down in that city, he could see people, even if they were just the size of particles from his point of view. He could see four-wheeled vehicles, moving with great speed between buildings.

That meant they were humans. Trolls didn't use that kind of earth-travelling steel boxes, often preferring to travel by air or water, whether by ships or spaceships. Nor did they gather in such a small space, preferring to keep to themselves. That was the only way for the species to survive, after all.

Karkat concluded with disappointment that they must be on Earth. It wasn't that he wanted to be back on Alternia; neither had he a particular wanting for another troll planet, like Beforus. Even so, he knew his friends would be disappointed that there was still no hope for their species. Kanaya especially.

Something compelled him to go down there. A deeply buried part, some gnarled, unused social muscles that begged for confirmation that this was, indeed, civilization.

However, the part of him that had feared for his own life so very often told him  _ no. _ It was too dangerous, too unpredictable, especially as he had no idea how long it would be before the sun rose.

Yes, he should definitely sleep on it.

The trek back felt longer than the first. Even so, he arrived at his hive long before the sky turned purple.

His lusus was happy to have him back, and that managed to sooth the anxiety that had been gnawing a pit into his nutritionhull from the time of his arrival.

It took three nights before he made another attempt to go outside. This time, he told his custodian he would be gone for a few days. He packed some food, uncertain if there would be any in the city (there should be, right?), and pocketed some of the generous amount of currency he had found in a chest.

The game seemed to have set him for a long time, if nothing else.

Instead of taking the same path he had the other day, Karkat chose another, which led, from his calculations, away from the sea. Hopefully he could avoid climbing down. If the level difference proved to go too far, however, he might just-

Oh. He had completely forgotten that he could actually fly. What kind of moron was he?

A stupid one, that was for sure.

He turned, and started for the forest path once again.

\---

After passing through a lot of nearly identical hives, Karkat had realized that it was a human neighbourhood. Not only because of the way the houses were built - lots of vertical surfaces, shaped like two rectangles put together - but also because the few living things he’d seen until then had all been humans. Once more he could feel the fear of once more being unique churn inside his gut. What if there were no trolls?

What if his friends hadn’t followed him into this universe?

Worrying about it was really fucking useless, but as he wandered down the empty streets, wings tucked away into a pocket dimension or something just as farfetched, he couldn’t help but think on it.

What would he do, if he was truly alone?

There was so many questions to be answered about this new world.

Were there any jobs he might want to have, here? Was the threshecutioner squad he’d wanted to join even a thing here? Who was the ruler of this planet? How would people act towards him?

Oh Mother of all Grubs, was _drone season_ something that happened here?

If there was humans, there might not be. Better not be, in fact, because if Karkat was the only troll left, he’d have no one to contribute with.

_And what if the surviving trolls were the only trolls in existence?_

He really couldn’t very well get together with one of them. Well, there was always Terezi, but other than her, Karkat definitely didn’t want to do any sort of quadrant with the remaining lot. Gamzee was a no-go in any square, though he might find it in himself to be ashen for the fucker. A bit. Maybe.

Kanaya could definitely work in pale and ashen, but no way could he ever do something concupiscent with her.

Actually, at the end, Kanaya had definitely seemed rather suggestive. Karkat felt his face heat up with the thought.

“Hey you!”

His head whirled to the direction of an approaching figure. 

“Don’t see many trolls around here,” the guy spoke, definitely louder than strictly necessary in the stillness of the night, “but then again, your horns’s so small you almost seem human.”

If the human wasn’t so completely sloshed, and Karkat wasn’t so relieved to hear of the existence of trolls, he might have been offended.

As it was, he gazed towards the tall sky-reaching buildings in the distance, and a small flicker of hope made itself known in his chest.

“What the fuck do you want?” he asked, interrupting the guy in some tirade or other. The drunk dude’s expression rather reminded Karkat of Rose, when Kanaya was sassing her after she’d gotten a drink too much.

Not that Karkat was dealing out any amount of sass. He was talking rather mildly, but then again none of his friends were around to testify the fact.

The stranger’s expression morphed into one of outrage.

“Hey’e, I was only try’na be nice, you know, you don’ have ta ans’swer me like tha’,” to which Karkat’s only response was to close his eyes, because fuck if humans weren’t panwasted enough already without drowning their brains in soporifics.

So he resoluted to ignore the human. Truly, there was nothing to gain from getting into an argument with him. This wasn’t Alternia, at any rate, and getting into a fight would probably lead to trouble.

Dave had spoken enough about police and lawhumans that Karkat at least knew _something_ about human society and their enforced rules.

Thus he walked, the shouting guy giving up after a mere fifteen steps or so. Probably forgot about him already. Alcohol was really, truly fucked up.

The suburbs he found himself in proved larger than he had thought. Perhaps he should have flown, but he felt rather queasy when he imagined himself hundreds of meters up in the air. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to walking either way. Not only had the game required a lot of travel; it wasn’t like you could get anywhere on old Alternia without using your feet.

Unless you were a seadweller, of course. Or had a ship.

Either way, it was nice to be on the move again. 

\---

After hours walking increasingly busy streets, Karkat decided on visiting a shy little establishment located in a less crowded part of the city. The architecture was regal and old; very unlike anything Karkat had witnessed on Alternia, but not all that dissimilar from what he had seen of Prospit and Derse. Though he had never seen the tall spires alive, dream bubbles were a good source of reference. 

The alley he found himself in was less polished than the bigger streets, but also, to him, more comfortable. There were less people there, and the place seemed almost devoid of customers. It seemed like a viable place to take a break, at least according to a lot of Dave’s human movies.

Inside awaited the smell of coffee and sweet pastries. The smell was richer than the horrible mockery the coffee gadget on the meteor managed to produce. Regardless, Karkat kind of missed that shitty brew. It was horrid, but the memories of watching movies _with_ people while holding that warm cup in his hands were still fond.

There was no line, and Karkat was smiled at and nodded to by a troll whose complexion was pinker than it ever would have been on Alternia. During the day, he had seen more than one troll with this kind of look; though they had horns, they were more a pale red than orange; though their skin was grey, it was lighter and pinker than any troll Karkat had ever seen.

Humans of strange colours had also been a presence in the city. Some were almost as dark as dersites, others had skin that was golden or brown or more yellow in hue. The species sure had a lot of diversity.

“Hello, how do you do?” the troll asked him from behind the counter, leaning upon it and showing a row of blunt teeth. Her horns were small and far apart, curving backward just slightly above her rounded ears. The more details Karkat noticed, the more she looked like a human. It was extremely off-putting.

“Err, good?” For a moment, he panicked, thinking that he had no boondollars accessible to him, before remembering the boonbonds upon boonbonds the team had collected as a whole. Hopefully, some of them had been transferred into this world.

“That’s good. Would you like something?”

Fumbling, Karkat managed, after a while, to retrieve a couple of notes from his modus. He quickly scanned the menu, before he uttered “Umm, a strawberry latte please,” and put the notes on the counter. The other troll smiled at him, her cheeks dimpling cutely, and took one of the notes in order to exchange it for something smaller.

Minutes later, Karkat sat at a table with a latte between his hands. Taking a sip, he quickly realized that he didn’t, in fact, like strawberries.

He sat there, nursing a latte he didn’t particularly like, watching people who were a lot more unfamiliar than they should be. Karkat couldn’t remember when he had last felt this out of place. It was definitely another world entirely. One that he didn’t really belong in.

It wasn’t long before he got tired of simply staring at random passersby. The streets had changed colour by the time he went outside, however, light up by streetlights and signs rather than the distant suns.

Karkat had never really been in this kind of landscape. He felt lost. Anger materialized in angry tears, quickly brushed away to hide their colour. Old habits die hard.

“Hey. Hey you, troll,” a rather dubious character closed in on him. They were small, seemingly male, and clothed in clothes that _could_ be purposefully torn, but could also just be incredibly old.

“What!?” Karkat answered, with the usual harshness to his voice. His voice had grown rather weak with disuse, yet there was nothing wrong with the volume of it. The other person cracked his neck, and had the kind of face that said he was unperturbed by all.

“You look like you’re ready to party, bro. What with fair’wings ‘n all,” dubious character said, slur now apparent. More alcohol, it seemed.

“No thanks, shitwad,” Karkat grouched.

“Suit r’self, ‘m  outta here,” the guy said, waving a hand.

Several moments passed. Then Karkat shouted after him, mostly because he doesn’t know where to go, what to do in this large town, what to eat or where to sleep. Hopefully this party would have other thing than strawberry lattes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I am alive. Yup, big surprise.
> 
> This is not edited all too much. Just had to get this out there, y'know, after years of lying almost finished on my drive. See any mistakes? Feel free to send a non-scathing message or comment my way!
> 
> Other than that, yeah, Karkat gets invited to parties by shady characters.
> 
>  
> 
> Aaaalso, this is now officially not canon. Kinda. I might work some canon endgame into this fic, but it won't be totally compliant. Hope thats ok with y'all.


End file.
